1. Field of the Invention
A certain aspect of this disclosure relates to a technology for sharing a display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-318589 discloses a technology that makes it possible to exchange information in real time in a multimedia conference. In the disclosed technology, a server captures a display screen of a client terminal and provides the captured screen to other client terminals.
Thus, in a related-art technology, screen information is sent and received in real time among multiple information processing apparatuses having a communication function to share a display screen. Such a technology for sharing a display screen is used, for example, in a conference where participants discuss a topic while viewing the same document.
With the related-art technology, however, the load of communications among information processing apparatuses for sharing a display screen and the processing load of the information processing apparatuses in drawing received screens tend to become high.
With the related-art technology, image data (screen information) of a display screen are sent and received among information processing apparatuses. Also with the related-art technology, it is necessary to send and receive image data frequently (at a high communication frequency) to improve real-time screen sharing. Thus, the related-art technology increases the amount of data sent and received among information processing apparatuses and increases the communication and processing loads.
These problems may also increase the time necessary for screen sharing (e.g., communication time and screen drawing time) and thereby degrade real-time screen sharing. Apparently, it is preferable to perform real-time screen sharing by sending and receiving a smaller amount of data among information processing apparatuses.